Somalian teen refugee wins right to challenge State aftercare provision
Tim Healy
A teenage Somalian refugee who came to Ireland alone at 16 years of age and who was then allegedly incorrectly considered by Tusla to be an adult has been granted High Court permission to establish if she is entitled to an 'aftercare' support programme.
At the High Court, barrister Michael Conlon SC, for the now-18-year-old who is a State-recognised refugee, submitted to Mr Justice Micheál P O'Higgins that Tusla, the Child and Family Agency (CFA), had in 2024 wrongly placed the applicant in adult accommodation, which did not provided requisite State supports for a minor and that the plaintiff, therefore, "remains in difficulty in navigating basic supports and resources to date".
The case was taken by lawyers for the Irish Refugee Council (IRC) on behalf of the teenager against the CFA, the Chief International Protection Officer, the Minister for Justice, the International Protection Service Accommodation Services, Ireland and the Attorney General.
The IRC is seeking a court order requiring the CFA to reassess whether the teenager needs further life assistance and if so, to provide an adult aftercare plan under the Child Care Act 1991.
It is claimed that the teenager was entitled to a presumption that she was a child when she came to Ireland in 2024 and that there was a failure regarding a lawful procedure to establish her age, which is a breach of the International Protection Act of 2015.
It is submitted that the plaintiff arrived in Ireland in March 2024 and successfully claimed international protection later that month.
It is also submitted that she was issued with a Temporary Residence Certificate until 2028 and was then placed in "inappropriate adult accommodation" without access to child education and supports she was entitled to as a minor.
It is submitted that the applicant was assessed "unlawfully" by the CFA, whose social worker had "concerns" about her age verification, opining that the girl was "not a minor".
The CFA decision, it is claimed, therefore, made the applicant ineligible for future services provided under the Child Care Act, "despite the fact that the applicant had consistently claimed she was a minor and had provided her Somali birth certificate issued by the Mayor of Mogadishu in February 2023".
Her original birth certificate was submitted to the International Protection Office in February 2025 and was accepted with the date of birth recorded as September 2007.
It was claimed that the applicant was not appointed a guardian or a social worker by the CFA, despite being a minor when she arrived in the State and that this "failure" has had serious consequences for the applicant, who is a commuting college student and is in employment to support her education.
Mr Justice O'Higgins granted leave to the teenager to seek State aftercare entitlements and adjourned the matter to March.
